The manual tells me to test the product by heating a cup of water for 30 seconds

THE MICROWAVE

I would try troubleshooting the "defrost circuit". The behavior sounds like the microwave is cooking in the defrost mode, where it actively cooks then stops allowing the food to rotate and the heat to spread then actively cooking again.

If that grinding noise sounds a little like gargling into a coffee cup, that's a defective magnetron.

You can download GE owner's manuals and installation instructions here.

You can find helpful exploded view diagrams and order parts by entering your full model number from the tag on the oven here.

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Hi There,
Unplug your microwave for ten minutes, plug it back in, and test it on a cup of water. If the problem persists, you'll have to take it in for servicing or buy a new microwave. I don't recommend continuing use if it's turning off on it's own, that usually means a bad power supply and can result in curcuit damage.

You can check your microwave for possible LEAKS and make sure there are no FOOD particles blocking the oven's fan system To check for leaks, place a DAMP paper towel around the door seals and place a glass cup of water in the microwave. If there are leaks of microwave energy you will find DRY or WARM areas on the paper towel. BE CAREFUL not to peer or watch the test, done on level HIGH for 1 minute. Microwaves may cook the vitreous humor (liquid in eyeball,) just like it would an egg. If the towel is dry or hot ANYWHERE after the test, TOSS the microwave. Your safety is not calculated by the cost of a new oven.Let me know how this goes; I have tested many older ovens and have found quite a few leaky ones.

Sciencewoman

Hello BillJohn! I've found that, after many countless hours of precise trial and error testing, that the optimum placement of the cup and a predetermined time entered on the keypad will yield the desired results you're seeking.

By placing the cup on the outer edge of the turntable, with the handle facing to the right side, when looking straight at the cup of water, you would then close the door until it latches and enter in a time of 2:38 onto the timer, (that's 2 minutes and 38 seconds) with a termperature setting of either low or medium, (not the default high).

This will provide you with a warmed up cup of joe, with the handle facing in such a manner that you should be able to grasp it in either your left or right paw without much trouble. However, this will only work approximately 82.5% of the time, the rest of the 17.5% the cup will end up at the 3 or 4 o'clock position (when the handle will be facing the back of the micro).

Otherwise, you'll be destined to have to grasp the cup with your hand and manually rotate it until the handle can be grabbed easily for extraction from the microwave. Of course, it goes without saying that that cup could be quite warm after the timer beeps and signals that the heating/cooking process has been completed.

Please remember that this highly sofisticated kitchen appliance was once only available to the ultra rich, back when the first Amana Radarranges were available for sale. These microwaves once had the unbelievable pricing at around $1200, all so some ultra rich person could reheat their leftover quails eggs and caviar, (along with that peruvian cop of coffee that their butler let go cold).

So be thankful that modern manufacturing technics have been able to harness the atom vibrations that allow for rapid heating and cooking for under $100 these days! Why just today, Home Depot was offering a dal for a small microwave for $19.00 on their Black Friday deals! I would have purchased it, but after seeing your issues with these new fangled devices, I decided that having to rotate my cup after reheating it, was just too much to do, even for the odd 17.5% of the time it happens!

Enjoy that warm cup of Joe and please keep an ongoing log of your actual results of how many times the cup and handle end up in the unaccessible position of 3 and 4 o'clock for the next 30 days.

I'm seeking more real-world data before I publish my statistics on this unusual cup/handle ending position phenomena.

Hope you find this Very Helpful and best regards!

Put in one cup of water at 2 1/2 minutes on high -- it should boil.

The fan slowing down is normal becaue the magnetron, which does the heating and, which pulls about 10 amps, will drop the voltage across the fan and slow it down.

What type of circuit was your old microwave using? Was it a circuit dedicated to the microwave?

Charlie

Hi, What you noticed is perfectly normal...
Here is a tip that will help you to figure out what is wrong with yourMicrowave Oven....

Microwave Oven Basic Troubleshooting Tips

heatman101

It is your cup. The handle density or moisture content of the handle is causing the mwave to heat it. The rest of the cup contains a liquid (coffee?) that is absorbing any heat generated in the body of the cup. Use a different cup!